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Chubby Jackson, 84, a Big-Band Star on Bass

Chubby Jackson, a jazz bassist almost as well known for his onstage exuberance as for his playing, died on Wednesday at a hospice in Paway, Calif., near his home in Rancho Bernardo. He was 84.

He had had cancer for several years and was also on dialysis, his son, Duffy, said.

Mr. Jackson rose to prominence in the mid-1940's with Woody Herman's Herd, one of the best and most popular big bands of the swing era. Bassists in big bands rarely soloed, but Mr. Jackson emerged as one of the stars of the Herman ensemble, largely through sheer force of personality.

As well as providing powerful and unusually propulsive bass lines (on an instrument with five strings rather than the customary four, which he designed himself), Mr. Jackson was a ball of fire onstage, grinning broadly, rarely standing still and shouting encouragement to his fellow musicians.

''There was ever never any doubt that I had positioned myself to become the cheerleader that egged every member to openly scream congratulations to one another at the completion of their individual choruses,'' he said in a recent interview.

Mr. Jackson was born Greig Stewart Jackson on Oct. 25, 1918, in New York City. (His early nickname stuck even after he lost 100 pounds in 1946.) He began playing bass in 1935, and within two years was working regularly with dance bands. In 1943, after two years with Charlie Barnet, he joined Woody Herman.

Herman's ensemble was one of the first to incorporate modern jazz ideas into a traditional big-band format. Mr. Jackson, who brought a number of forward-thinking musicians into the band -- including Ralph Burns and Neal Hefti, who became its main arrangers -- was the catalyst.

''What an immense influence he had on us!'' Herman once said. ''And what enthusiasm! He used to get around to hear everything. He was always screaming about this musician and that musician.''

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Mr. Jackson was a co-writer with Herman and Mr. Burns of ''Northwest Passage,'' one of the most popular numbers in the Herman repertory, and was prominently featured on several others, including ''Caldonia,'' on which he soloed, and ''Lemon Drop,'' on which he scat-sang.

Mr. Jackson left Herman after three years to lead his own small group, but returned for a few months in 1948 and reunited with Herman frequently. He worked sporadically with the saxophonist Charlie Ventura and briefly led a 12-piece band. He and the trombonist Bill Harris led a septet before Mr. Jackson moved to Chicago with his family in 1953.

There he began a successful second career in television. In 1955 he became the host of a local children's show on which he led a big band, played a bass with a big, smiling face painted on it, told jokes and introduced Little Rascals shorts. When he moved to New York in 1958, he continued the show for several years on WABC-TV.

He continued to take more conventional jazz jobs throughout the 1960's and 70's, occasionally working with his son, a prominent jazz drummer who began his career as a teenager. In 1978 and 1979 he toured with an all-star band led by Lionel Hampton. But beset by health problems and weary of the road, he settled in Florida in the early 80's and cut down on his musical activity.

Mr. Jackson later moved to the San Diego area and in 1998 gave up the bass for good, although he continued to sit in as a singer with local bands.

His first marriage, to Joan Jackson, ended in divorce. In addition to his son, of Lighthouse Point, Fla., he is survived by his wife, Margot; two daughters, Myno of Carlsbad, Calif., and Jaijai of Vista, Calif.; and a granddaughter, Chloe.

Correction: November 24, 2003

An obituary of the jazz bassist Chubby Jackson on Oct. 4 misspelled the name of the city where he died. A recent e-mail message from a reader pointed out that it is Poway, Calif., not Paway.

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A version of this obituary; biography appears in print on October 4, 2003, on Page A00014 of the National edition with the headline: Chubby Jackson, 84, a Big-Band Star on Bass. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe